Marine vessels are used in a variety of applications to provide transportation over waterways, such as oceans, lakes, rivers, and/or the like. A marine vessel propulsion system may include multiple propulsion devices (e.g., marine drive units). In some instances, the propulsion devices can rotate relative to a center line of the marine vessel to enable steering of the marine vessel. In some instances, the marine vessel propulsion system may include marine drive units mounted or installed on a hull of the marine vessel. Such marine drive units (which may be referred to as “pods”) may be configured to have a threshold range of rotation. In some instances, the marine drive units may rotate 360 degrees. The threshold range of rotation may be mechanically controlled or limited and/or electronically controlled or limited.
One attempt to implement such a marine drive propulsion system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,024 that issued to Nose et al. on Jul. 31, 2012 (“the '024 patent”). In particular, the '024 patent discloses first and second propulsion devices arranged to be mounted on a hull, a first operation lever arranged to be operated by a marine vessel maneuvering operator to control the first propulsion device to have a shift state selected from among a forward drive state, a neutral state, and a reverse drive state and to control a power output of the first propulsion device, a second operation lever arranged to be operated by the marine vessel maneuvering operator to control the second propulsion device to have a shift state selected from a forward drive state, a neutral state, and a reverse drive state and to control a power output of the second propulsion device, and a control unit programmed to set a target pivoting speed according to the positions of the first and second operation levers.
While the propulsion system of the '024 patent may facilitate steering of a marine vessel, the '024 vessel does not address adjusting position of the first propulsion device or the second propulsion device using the first and second operation levers based on the vessel being in a particular operation mode.
The drive controller of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.